metamorphic rocks of great beauty, and very hard. They are not only seen here and there in situ, in extremely disturbed beds, but the whole country, and the beds of the rivers, are strewn with the rich-coloured boulders, whose angles only, have been rubbed off.
Somewhere about here, must be the very edge of the volcanic tract to the north, and these rocks are apparently the result of the reaction of the ancient volcanic rocks upon the argillaceous beds, which, owing to their original contact with the cretaceous limestone, had acquired such a dose of lime, as enabled them to bake into the magnificent natural terra cotta that is around me.
Creeping along beneath the great forest of Maurello, that rises continuously for two or three miles upon the N.W., and whose growth attests the richness of the mixed volcanic and calcareous soil, we commence the long and steep ascent of Monte Croce, having necessarily to pass somewhere, the great Apennine ridge, in order to return into the valleys whose watershed is towards the Mediterranean.
The monks at Monticchio, upon the coming on of the fall of snow there, had hinted that I should find difficulty in crossing the pass of Monte Croce; and the Padrone at Barielle had expressed great doubt of the possibility of accomplishing it.
I was extremely anxious to return that way, as leading me over new ground, and finding, after the best inquiries I could make, that the other passes across the chain, south of Potenza, were still higher and known to be worse in deep snows, I finally resolved to attempt the passage of Monte Croce, The whole of Vulture now lay covered, and even the plain beneath, had about six inches of snow, as we
